Aiden
by chaser1980
Summary: "It didn't really surprise me that much, when your mum and I ended up together. One day, when she was fighting with Uncle Ron at the Burrow, throwing more garden gnomes at him than over the wall, I just realized I was mad for her."


**Disclaimer: I'm not JKR. Big surprise, but I like my version of her characters better. :-) Honestly, I've been trying to write a multi-chaptered Bill/Hermione and a multi-chaptered George/Hermione, but George just won't leave me alone with the one-shot plot bunnies. And then there's that silly Charlie getting in the way and deciding he'd like a multi-chapter with Hermione, too. *sigh* Too many attractive Weasleys. Anyway, this is so fluffy, it's ridiculous. Might give you cavities. You've been warned.**

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><p>George's eyes flew open at the first whimper. As he rubbed a hand down his face, he remembered vaguely that he had once been a heavy sleeper. That had ended about three weeks ago. He looked to the woman in the bed next to him and saw she was still asleep, the shadows below her eyes visible even in the dim moonlight. He was sure he had ones to match, but she looked so peaceful, he thought he'd best not wake her up just yet. He smiled a little and brushed a curl away from her nose. He rolled gently off his side of the bed and tiptoed around to hers, hearing another whimper and rustling. He bent down and scooped the baby up from the bassinet, tucking him gently to his shoulder and stepping out of the room before whimpering could escalate into wailing.<p>

The nursery was set up in the bedroom next door, though Aiden was still spending his nights in the basket next to his parents' bed, making nightly feedings more convenient. George set his son down on the changing table and popped open the snaps on the tiny pyjamas.

"Need a change? It's not quite time for you to eat again, at least I don't think it is," George whispered. His son just stared up at him with wide blue eyes, tucking his fists up near his cheeks. "Could you let Mummy sleep a bit longer? We can have a chat, if you don't want to go back to sleep."

His nappy was indeed wet and George changed him quickly. Aiden had been prone to extraordinary screaming when being changed his first week, but had adapted to it, George guessed, and now hardly blinked most times. Luckily, this was one of those times. Snapping the pyjama bottoms closed again, George dropped the nappy into the pail beside the table and pulled a folded blanket off the shelf above. He tried to remember what his mum had shown him about how to swaddle the baby, but his end result didn't look quite as neat as hers. Well, Aiden didn't seem to mind, so he guessed that was most important. He seemed content for the moment, so George picked him back up and went into the living room, taking a seat at the end of the overstuffed sofa and stretching his legs out. The baby was tucked in the crook of his arm, still watching him with slightly unfocused eyes, as George used his wand to light a low fire in the fireplace. It was a little chilly, as November pressed on closer to December.

"It's nearly Christmas," George said, making sure to keep his voice low. The flat above Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes wasn't very large, and he didn't want to wake his wife just yet, if Aiden wasn't hungry. "Your first 'll get a tree soon and you'll have to help us decorate it. I'm certain you're going to get a great many gifts from Father Christmas and Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma's quite mad for you, you know, in case being nearly kissed to death every time she sees you hasn't been enough of a clue. She's got Victorie and another girl on the way from Ron, but you're the first grandson, so apparently that makes you special.

"I would tend to agree, but I'm probably biased. I hope your new cousin takes after her mother a little more than her father, though, as Uncle Ron can be rather dense sometimes. Although if she takes after her mother, she might start wandering off looking for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks as soon as she can walk." George shook his head a little. "Frankly, your cousin might end up being a little barmy. You'll have to watch out for her when you go to Hogwarts.

"Merlin, you're only three weeks old and I'm already putting you on the train to school! I'm glad that's far off yet, I think I rather like having you here. I'd like it even more if you'd learn to sleep through the night, though, so you should try that sometime and see how it suits you."

He pressed his finger to one of Aiden's fists that just peeped over the edge of his poor swaddling job, and the baby latched on.

"Quite a grip there, son. How old do you think you'll have to be before Mum lets me buy you a broom? Four? Five? I promise I'll try to wear her down and get you one as soon as I can. You'll need to practice if you're going to make Gryffindor's team your first year. Your Uncle Fred and I played Beater, but Uncle Ron, Uncle Harry, and Aunt Ginny all played with us too. That's what Aunt Ginny still does. She's on the Hollyhead Harpies team and she's quite good. She's back in town this week, though, and she's dying to come over here tomorrow and watch you for a while, let your mum take a nap while I'm at work. I'm sure Uncle Harry will come, too, and Ginny will be lucky if he lets her hold you at all. He's rather girly when it comes to babies. I think he's already been asking her to think about not signing her next contract, so they can start their family, too. You'd think the Saviour of the Wizarding World could be a little more of a man, but he just turns all to mush around sprogs.

"A little different from your Uncle Charlie. He only held you once, in hospital, when Grandma forced him to and he looked rather terrified by the whole thing. Unless you're covered in scales and breathe fire, he's apparently useless. He loves you, though, he'd just rather deal with you when you're slightly less breakable. Maybe when you're thirty. I get it. I worried about that, too, and so did your mum. We're probably not the likeliest of parents, but we're not mucking it up too badly yet, are we?

"You have no idea how many books on babies your mum made me read before you got here. Merlin, it was like being at school again! I'm surprised she didn't make me summarize every chapter and turn in reports. I think she's figuring out, though, that we can't find everything in a book when it comes to you and she's relaxing a little. Or maybe that's just the exhaustion. Uncle Fred has been pretty good about letting me take a quick nap or two in the back room during the day, but I can't keep doing that forever. We've had to hire Lee back on part-time, to help build up inventory. It's nice to have him around again, but he's got a regular job he needs to get back to. Maybe we'll give Uncle Ron more hours. We can afford it, as the store's doing quite well these days, and he's nearly done fixing up that house he and Aunt Luna bought, so he'll probably want the work.

"You know, forget brooms, I wonder how long before your mum lets you anywhere near the back room of the shop. If Fred could just stop blowing things up by accident, it wouldn't be dangerous, I swear. You know, she's invented a few things on her own since we got together, your mum. No wonder everyone thought I'd slipped something in her pumpkin juice. Prefect, one third of the Golden Trio, and smartest witch of her age with me, a Hogwarts dropout and prankster extraordinaire with one ear? I suppose it wouldn't have been someone's first guess, but everyone is coming around. I think after six months of dating and after Ron threatened to hex me if I was playing around, at least the family decided it wasn't a joke. Took us getting married to hush up everyone else.

"Did you know the Daily Prophet had a poll going on whether you'd be a boy or girl? They've got one on your new cousin, too, so Ron and Luna swore us all to secrecy when they told us it was a girl. The last thing we need is for that rag to get more involved. Your mum and Ron and Harry are quite famous, though. I guess we all are, now, but it's really the three of them that attract the most attention and they hate it. Of course, after that hex your mum threw at the one photographer who tried to get into her room at St. Mungo's, I doubt we'll be bothered again for a while."

Aiden wriggled a bit, wrinkling his brow as he began to whimper again.

"Oh, getting hungry now, eh? Can't you let Mummy sleep just a while longer? Here, see if this helps." He slipped his pinky finger into the baby's mouth and he immediately started suckling. "Hmm, she's not going to get much more of a reprieve, is she? At least I tried.

"You know, it didn't really surprise me that much, when your mum and I ended up together. It's not that I was expecting it or anything, but one day, when she was fighting with Uncle Ron at the Burrow, throwing more garden gnomes at him than over the wall, I just realized I was mad for her. It may have taken Ron and Harry a long time to realize she was a girl, but I'll tell you, it didn't take me that long. I took Katie to the Yule Ball my sixth year and I'm sure she looked perfectly lovely, but if you were to ask me now, what she was wearing, or how she had her hair, I'd draw an absolute blank. Your mum, on the other hand, was only in fourth year, but had been asked to go by Viktor Krum—yes, I agree, it _is _a stupid name—and I can remember exactly how she looked when she walked in the room, down to every curl. I managed to convince myself that it was only natural that I notice, being a sixteen-year-old boy and all, and I filed it away, like I did every other picture, and look, and touch for the next six years, until that day in the garden when I just couldn't deny it anymore.

"I waited a while longer, since she had only broken up with your Uncle Ron two months before—I know, I can't believe they even made it a week, much less six months, but your mum seemed rather determined for a while. I think she just couldn't think of failing at something, but it wasn't her fault, they just weren't a match. We could all see it. But I didn't want to wait too long—I knew there'd be wizards lining up if I did. And here's the kicker—she actually fancied me, too! Mad, right? But lucky for me, though, because your mum is the most brilliant, beautiful witch in the world and now you're the lucky one because she's going to be an amazing mum. And hopefully I won't be too bad of a dad either."

"Not even a chance of that."

George looked up quickly, seeing Hermione in the doorway of the bedroom, wrapped in his flannel robe. Well, it probably no longer his—she seemed to have appropriated it last winter. It looked better on her anyway.

"And how long were you listening in on our father son chat?" George asked, grinning. She moved around to the sofa and he dropped one leg off, shifting Aiden and letting his wife sit in front of him.

"Long enough," she replied. "You're the most adorable man, George Weasley, and you're going to be an amazing dad."

Her eyes looked slightly misty and George blushed a little at her praise. He kissed her forehead, then her lips. "Only with your help, love."

Without the comfort of George's finger, Aiden began to fuss and Hermione took him from George. He leaned back against the sofa again and she in turn leaned back against his chest. He noticed her feet were bare and used his wand to drape them both in the blanket that was folded across the back of the sofa.

"Hello darling, still wanting some attention at three o'clock in the morning, I see," Hermione said to Aiden, cuddling him and placing a kiss on his head.

"I tried to let you sleep as long as possible, but apparently the Weasley appetite is already kicking in," George said, smoothing Aiden's sparse, somewhat red hair.

"I didn't give that a proper amount of thought before we decided to try for a baby," she teased.

"Since we got it on the first go, you didn't have much of a chance to reconsider."

"Honestly, with your family genetics, we're lucky we weren't surprised back when we were dating. I'm making us both the strongest potions I can brew and we're going to double up with charms until we're good and ready to consider another one."

George laughed a little. "Well, three more weeks until we'll need them. I'm marking it on my calendar."

"You're mad. I haven't even washed my hair in four days, I've just been casting freshening charms, I think I've lived in this robe of yours since we brought him home, and I don't know why they say breastfeeding helps you lose the baby weight, because I haven't seen any evidence of that yet." Hermione used one of the sofa pillows to prop up the arm that she had cradling Aiden.

"No, you're mad if you think I care about any of that. I was just telling our son here, how I remember exactly how you looked at the Yule Ball your fourth year, every detail, but what I didn't say is that you're even more beautiful now than you were then. Flannel robe, messy hair, and all."

"Your dad made sure to tell you flattery will get you everywhere with a hormonally unstable new mother, hm?"

"Of course, but I wouldn't say it if it weren't true."

"I still think you're mad."

He kissed the back of her head and wrapped his arm around hers, so they could both cradle the baby as she pulled back her robe and coaxed Aiden to latch on. She stiffened a little as he did, then relaxed back against her husband.

"Getting any better, love?" he asked, gently, not wanting a repeat of two and a half weeks ago, when they had first brought the baby home. He'd had to make a frantic floo call to his mother, as Hermione had burst into tears and declared she was an utter failure and he'd best go find a wife who was capable of feeding her own child. Molly made him go down to the shop and find something to amuse himself, while she took care of Hermione. By the time he returned, Hermione was finally feeding Aiden successfully, though gingerly, and sniffling back even more tears, though she claimed these were happy ones.

"It's been a bit painful, but the potion your mum dropped off yesterday is helping," she replied, watching Aiden's eyes close in contentment. She traced a finger around his tiny ear. "I still can't believe he's real sometimes."

"Me, too," George replied. "I love this, though, even at three in the morning. This is the most brilliant thing in the world."

She laughed softly. "Tell that to Ron. I was perfectly covered up the other day, and he didn't even know I was feeding Aiden for nearly ten minutes, but you should have seen the look on his face when he realized exactly why we were draped in a blanket. You'd have thought he'd walked in on McGonagall in the bath!"

George snorted and turned his head to kiss her ear. "He'll understand in a few months. I probably had a similar look on my face the first time I saw Fleur nursing Victorie, but it's different when it's you and our son."

"Our son. I love hearing you say that."

She sounded a little teary again and he bit back a smile. Practical, calm, collected Hermione would be astonished if she had a proper perspective on the up and down ride her emotions had been taking lately. It was rather mad, he thought, that they had all made it through the war, and ended up here. Harry had gone and survived Voldemort _again_, and had destroyed all the horcruxes with Ron and Hermione. His mother had gotten the pleasure of killing the evil witch who had tortured his darling wife, even if she was practically Ron's girlfriend at the time, and Fred had narrowly escaped being buried by a wall at Hogwarts. It seemed unreal sometimes, that they could all really be here, be happy, be living their lives. That everything they had fought for was worth it after all.

George couldn't help but let his eyes drift closed as he dozed while Hermione fed Aiden. He started a little when she transferred the baby to her shoulder to pat his back.

"Asleep back there?" she teased, whispering as Aiden was nearly asleep again, too.

"Just a bit," he allowed. "I'll put him back down."

She nodded and handed him the baby, giving him one last kiss before padding back across the floor to their bedroom. George doused the fire and used his wand to put the blanket and pillow back in their proper place. He carried Aiden into the bedroom, only to find that Hermione was already asleep again, not even a minute after having disappeared. He felt he could probably do the same. He lowered Aiden carefully into the bassinet, sighing a little in relief as the infant barely stirred, then settled down.

"Now, I don't want to hear any more from you until at least seven," George whispered, his words teasingly stern, "or we'll have to rethink that broom deal we made earlier."


End file.
